Howard has talked
about my
post on gun laws, and talks about the laws and their effect in the
UK. There's been a massive increase in gun crime in the UK in recent
years, fuelled partly by smuggling from Eastern Europe and the rise of
gangsta culture. Someone was shot in Newington Green this week, just
around the corner from Scott and Katie's
place.
I thought I'd lay down why I support gun control, and in fact
support it being far, far tighter.
People go nuts. In Australia and the UK, they go nuts at pretty
much the same rate as America, give or take a bit. When someone goes
on a killing spree, the weapons available to them make all the
difference in the impact of the spree. You can only get so far with a
knife, and hurt so many people.
Now occasionally this means a nutter with foresight will get hold
of an illegal gun, and still go on a killing spree. But these types
of spree are far, far rarer. They're normally going to go with what's
easily available.
Personally I think you need a very good reason to own a
gun. Target shooters should be required to join a gun club, and the
gun is signed out and back in to lockers run by the club whenever
they're used. You can't have such a gun at home.
Hunters, well I'm not quite sure we need them. I'm sure some
similar restrictions could be thought up though. No guns in
homes.
Farmers are a bit more difficult. We have a lot of pest animals in
Australia, and farmers really do need to be able to have guns readily
accesible to protect livestock and kill any pests they find. Not sure
how you can reduce the risk here, apart from background checks, weapon
limits and mandatory gun lockers.
Handguns? There's never any legitimate need outside law
enforcement. Again, sporting shooters can join a gun club.